RE: Oxymorons and pre-visualization

["BIRKEY, DUANE" <dbirkey@hcjb.org.ec>]

Jim wrote:

>But the word
>"pre-visualization" sounds like an oxymoron to me. You can visualize
>something, but how can you do it before you actually do it? ;-)

For those of you whom English is a second or third language:

Webster's dictionary states that the word visualize means:  to form a 
mental image of something not visible.
Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which contradictory terms are 
combined or used together.  

Ansel Adams coined a number of phrases and had some thoughts that a 
number of experts will tell you are not technically and 
sensitometrically (sic?) correct.  (Whoops, don't start another Adams 
thread please)

I would personally define pre-visualization in photography as:  the 
process of forming a mental image of how a photo will appear in it's 
final form.

I'm like Frans in that I too like to sketch out photos.   Usually it is 
something that requires lighting but I try to have a always have good 
sense of how I want to photograph things before hand.  I like to scout 
out locations, observe what goes on, figure out what I want to capture 
on film and then figure out how to get it and what I need to get that 
shot.  But then again, I'm a one man show and having shots planned out 
means I have exactly the equipment I need and I can work faster.  It 
also gives me time to think without the pressure that comes with being 
there with all of your stuff and having everyone saying are you ready 
yet?   I can think about what little things I want to include in the 
photo or not include.  I can decide on how sharp or unsharp I want the 
background to be and whether I want it to be dark or light.  Am I going 
to get green casts from fluorescent lights, flare from windows etc. 
etc. etc.

I know some of you will say that photographers shouldn't get locked 
into an idea before hand.  But that's the purpose of scouting a 
location.  I know more or less what happens and what is going to 
happen.  So the specific mental images I want to capture on film come 
in part from scouting it out before hand and knowing the subject well.  
If you don't think out a complex photograph, chances are you will find 
that a lot of the details are not properly taken care of and the final 
image will suffer.

For travel type photography I almost always first walk around and look 
at the location or study the subjects a bit before shooting anything.  
I get better shots that way, it gives me time to look beyond the 
subject at the background and figure out what's going on around the 
scene or other possible places to shoot from.  I also get past the 
initial excitement of seeing the subject and thus concentrating on it 
while ignoring the surroundings shooting style.  

But then again I work for a non-profit organization and I develop my 
own film so I have need to be conscious of how I'm using God's film.  I 
also often shoot with slides, b&w and color neg at the same time, so I 
need to get things right from the start or I end up  putting a lot of 
film in the circular file  (garbage can).

For what it's worth,

Duane Birkey 
HCJB World Radio
Quito Ecuador